Music Fests Tune In to Energy Use

Johnson Controls recently signed a three-year sponsorship with Milwaukee World Festival that allows the company to help improve the energy efficiency of its sponsored stage at the Summerfest music festival in its hometown of Milwaukee.

For the 2013 festival, which begins this week, improvements provided by Johnson Controls World Sound Stage include:

Replacement of lamps in the seating area with energy efficient LED bulbs

Split system high efficiency air conditioning units for the backstage dressing rooms and offices

Installation of Metasys building management system that will provide real-time information on energy usage in the stage area

In addition, a sustainability tower will be located at the entrance to the seating area to show Summerfest goers the energy improvement results being measured in real-time. The tower will house a wind turbine and solar panels, which will demonstrate how energy can be captured and used to power the displays on the tower.

Johnson Controls estimates the annual energy savings to the stage area for the festival will be 7.7 million watt hours.

In Colorado, for the 11th consecutive year, Colorado-based Renewable Choice Energy provided wind power and carbon offsets to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, (pictured) which ended Sunday. Planet Bluegrass, the parent company of the Telluride Festival, purchased wind power in the form of renewable energy credits (RECs) and verified carbon emission reductions from Renewable Choice to offset 100 percent of the emissions created by the Festival, including attendee and artist travel.